A Holiday Celebration

SIDENOTES

Loudoun Symphony Celebrates The Holidays!

Featuring members of Loudoun Symphony Youth Orchestras

Program

We Wish You A Merry Christmas (arr. KB and DB)

Leilani Canales, violin

Kai Canales, violin

String Orchestra

Ave Maria - Bach/Gounod

Eva Ulreich, violin

Philharmonic Orchestra

Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson (arr. Brooklyn Duo)

Ms. Ashley Driscoll, cello

Dr. Laurie Hudicek, piano

About the Artists

Kai and Leilani are excited to perform a duet for the holiday season. Leilani is a fourth grader and Kai is a seventh grader.

Eva Ulreich is a freshman at Tuscarora High School and the Academy of Engineering and Technology. She studies violin with Ms. Tara Planeta and voice with Ms. Alyssa Cowell at Catoctin School of Music in Leesburg. This is her third year with LSYO. In addition to playing music, Eva is also an accomplished artist and animator.

Ms. Ashley Driscoll is LSYO’s Symphonic Orchestra conductor. She is also Orchestra Director at Independence High School in Loudoun County. Prior to teaching in Virginia, Ms. Driscoll was the former graduate assistant conductor of the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra and has guest conducted youth and community ensembles across West Virginia. Ms. Driscoll is also a registered Suzuki instructor and remains an active cellist in community and recital performances.

Dr. Laurie Hudicek is the Director of Educational Programming for LSYO. Her entire career has been in music performance and instruction. She is currently on the faculty of Levine Music in Washington DC, and manages her private studio in Leesburg. Dr. Hudicek is also a registered Suzuki instructor and a Certified Royal Conservatory of Music Instructor.

Notes on the pieces

Traditional Christmas carols generally are quite religious. However, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," broke the established order, offering more of a playful take on the holiday. The identity of the composer remains a mystery to date. However, its origins are widely believed to be the sixteenth-century, where it was dedicated to carolers who performed for the entertainment of the rich and powerful. (galaxymusicnotes.com)

Charles-François Gounod’s “Ave Maria” is the result of a musical collaboration that expanded through a century. The two great composers, Charles Gounod and Johann Sebastian Bach were not even contemporaries. The melody of this song was crafted 80 years after its accompaniment. Based on the first prelude from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier Volume 1, this setting of Ave Maria is one of the most popular during the holiday season and not to be confused with Schubert’s Ave Maria. (galaxymusicnotes.com)

The original Sleigh Ride is an orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. Anderson had formed the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and he finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were instrumental versions. The lyrics, about riding in a sleigh and other fun wintertime activities, were written by Mitchell Parishin 1950. This arrangement is by the popular Brooklyn Duo.

Founded in 2014, Brooklyn Duo has quickly established itself as one of today’s most successful classical crossover ensembles. Finding their fame on YouTube, the couple have arranged a variety of music covers from The Beatles and Metallica to Ariana Grande and John Legend.